Akai MFC42

"can it be used for hip hop samples off vinyl?"

It is great for pulling stuff from vinyl. Instead of putting it on the outputs of the MPC you can put it on the inputs. Why? A filter makes one helluva EQ. The 8-pole filter prolly has about steeper cutoff than any EQ. Plus there is a phono pre-amp built in it so you do not have to run your sample through the &!@#$ Gemini.

MPC_Producer wrote: The resonance control is nonlinear and sensitive at one end. Watch out here! If you are wearing headphones, sooner or later a high pitch sound is going to blast your eardrums. I have done it a few times. Send that same signal through your amplifier, and the tweeter speakers will get blown instantly.

how can you prevent this?

The MFC42 does indeed cost $400 because you have to include the cost of the mounting hardware and connections. The bracket comes with a required, special multi-plug cable. So don't think that you will get away with a big savings by just throwing the MFC42 on a shelf. Sure you could do that and buy several separate cables but why bother?

As for the high pitch blowing the tweeters, this MFC42 is an extreme case. Just remember that you were warned. It is not good design. The only way that you can prevent it is to be VERY careful. And still I have hurt my eardrums a few times and blown a set of tweeters once.

The filter isn't really specific to house/jungle/techno. In fact it doesn't really fit into any category. You can't tweak sounds that much with this filter like with other hardware and software modules.

Save your money and buy something newer that does more than the MFC42. These units never sold well for a very good reason. Akai should have discontinued them long ago.

"The bracket comes with a required, special multi-plug cable."

You do not have to buy the bracket to use the MFC. The cables are nothing more than 3 audio cables and 2 midi cables. You can make those very cables yourself for under $20. The bracket is optional since you do not have to own an MPC to buy or use it.

" blowing the tweeters....It is not good design"

This is not true. Any good design will include self-resonant filters. You should be allowed to push a filter to self-resonant instead of hiding it from stupid users that do not understand it (like Roland does).

"buy something newer that does more than the MFC42"

Umm, the MFC is the 2nd newest analog filter unit on the market. The most recent is the Waldorf AFB, which has to be connected to your computer to use it.

Even if you considered older equipment, what was better?

Sherman filterbank? Mono only, single filter. Costs twice as much.

Peavey Analog filter? Again, mono, suffered severely from zipper noise. Low pass only.

Electrix filter queen? mono 4-pole, stereo 2-pole, no midi.

Electrix filter factory. Same poles as queen. had midi. Volume control implementation was shoddy at best in an attempt to hide zipper noise.

Waldorf 4-pole? Mono, fixed low pass only. not-rackmount.

Waldorf x-pole? Much nicer than 4-pole with more features, but good luck in ever finding one.

None of these above had dual filter units like the Akai, nor do any of them have an 8-pole filter. The Akai also has a phono preamp, phaser, LFO, midi sync and control, headphone jack on the front.


"You can't tweak sounds that much with this filter like with other hardware and software modules"

Can you provide specific examples? Otherwise the statement means nothing.

It's a great filter. Self oscillating filters are the shizz.

It the tweeter blower thing is just high pitches, then 3000 is right. but if the volume increases dramatically, they could have impemented a gain control with a dual ganged resonance pot, but this is something not in most filters, and may not lead to good results.

I use one and also a Sherman filter bank.
The MFC is a good filter but it lacks the creative possibilies you have with the Sherman. Not as mental sounding and you can't set it up as an envelope follower or anything like that.
But.. if all you want is a basic envelope/lfo controlled analogue filter it's a great cheap option.
If you're looking for something that will transform ordinary sounds into unique ones then go for a Sherman.

i really like it for what it does.. its no sherman 2, but it serves its purpose in my set up just fine.. what i like the most is the midi syncable LFO and envelope filtering.. i'm very picky when it comes to LFO rates. another cool thing is that you can store your settings onto your floppy or zip using your mpc along with all your other sequence data using the 'send scene' function. so, i dont think it is entirely worthless.. especially since their prices have been slashed recently.. i got mine for $200.00

seems like there is an env follower mode, you could always set velocity to modulate filter cutoff.

I wish those brackets would fit on my 60 mkI !!!!!

I wonder if it wouldn't work if I swapped them from the sides and put them inside the end cheeks. Maybe drill some holes.....

where can you get that for 2 bills? i'd get it for that much, no doubt. mpc3000 got me sold. good lookin out 3.

got me sold too....just wanna hear a lil more before i go out and buy